Monday, January 18, 2016

HOCKEY COMMUNITY MOURNS LOSS OF GENESEO PLAYER



Geneseo is our greatest rival, but as Brockport showed earlier this season in the #PrayForJay campaign for Geneseo's Jay Stephanik (who had suffered major brain trauma in an off-ice incident), the brotherhood of hockey is greater than the game itself.

Sadly, it's time to call on the strength and support of that brotherhood again as Geneseo lost one of their own on Sunday.

Matthew Hutchinson, 24, a senior blueliner from North Vancouver, BC, was found dead in a Geneseo home along with two others -- a member of the women's basketball team, Kelsey Annese, and a former Geneseo student, Colin Kingston.

The police have released very few details but listening to police scanner audio that is available online, it appears that Hutchinson was a murder victim.

Hutchinson was a geography major and a business minor who volunteered with the Geneseo volunteer firefighting core and he had aspirations of being a wilderness firefighter back in his home country, something he had done in the summer months. "Hutch" was well-liked by his teammates, coaches and the community.

In his career against Brockport he had an assist in a 4-1 Geneseo victory in February of 2014 and he contributed 2 blocked shots in a 5-3 Geneseo win over Brockport that November.

Geneseo has an information page about the tragedy and what will follow here: http://www.geneseo.edu/jan-17-tragedy

Our thoughts and prayers are with Hutch's family, friends, teammates, and fellow firefighters.